UPDATE: I hear among the pilots remaining in serious contention are dramas Backstrom and Beverly Hills Cop and comedy Friends With Better Lives. I also gear that the serialized Hostages, which had been rumored for a midseason run, has received a 15-episode order and may air as a limited run.

Living up to the buzz that CBS has been higher on its comedy pilots than dramas this season, the network has picked up four new comedy series vs. two dramas. The comedies are two multi-camera — Lorre’sMom and Garcia’s multi-camera project, now titled The Millers — and two single-camera — Kelley’s Crazy Ones starring Robin Williams and We Are Men (formerly untitled Rob Greenberg). This marks the first time in five years that CBS will have a single-camera on the air, since Worst Week in 2008. On the drama side, getting the nod are the Bruckheimer-produced conspiracy thriller Hostages and crime procedural Intelligence, which stars Holloway and Helgenberger. The big question is: where is Beverly Hills Cop? Word is CBS is not completely done yet, with 1-2 more pickups likely. For now, I’ve only heard that the Tad Quill project and Rottenberg/Zuritsky are not going forward; I’ll update with info on others.

The four new comedy series is twice what CBS ordered last year and the largest half-hour contingent in years as the network is preparing for the departure of How I Met Your Mother and possibly Two And A Half Men. With at least four new half-hour series (and five returning), the network will certainly open a second comedy hour. Picking up the little older-skewing single-camera Crazy Ones and We Are Men seems to fall in line with speculation about a possible comedy block Friday. An expansion on Thursday also is a possibility.

This is the second series order today for Intelligence director/exec producer David Semel, who also produces NBC’s Ironside in addition to just-picked-up TNT drama Legends. Here are detailed descriptions of CBS’ newly picked up series:

Based on the Israeli format created by Alon Aranya, Omri Givon and Rotem Shamir

Studio: Jerry Bruckheimer Television i/a/w Warner Bros. Television

Cast includes:Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott

Logline: A family is caught in the middle of a grand political conspiracy that will change their lives forever.

INTELLIGENCE

EP/ Writer: Michael Seitzman

EP/Dir: David Semel

EP: Tripp Vinson

EP: Rene Echevarria

Studio: CBS Television Studios/ABC Studios

Cast includes: Josh Holloway, Marg Helgenberger, Meghan Ory

Logline: INTELLIGENCE is centered at US Cyber Command, and focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift, a microchip that has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

COMEDY

WE ARE MEN (formerly Untitled Rob Greenberg)

Half-hour, single camera

Creator: Rob Greenberg

EP: Rob Greenberg, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum

Writer: Rob Greenberg

Studio: CBS Television Studios

Director: Rob Greenberg

Cast includes: Chris Smith, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O’Connell

Logline: A young guy finds camaraderie living among the more experienced guys he meets in a short-term rental complex.